Black tea may lead to a healthier heart

Black tea has stepped up into the health circle of foods rich in antioxidants that may be protective against heart attack and stroke. A new study has found a strong link between drinking black tea and healthy arteries in individuals with heart disease, according to a report in the latest issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Like red wine, onions and purple grape juice, black tea is rich in flavonoids, substances that have been shown to prevent the oxidation of "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins) that leads to the formation of plaque in artery walls. Flavonoids improve the function of the inner lining in blood vessels and also regulate the diameter of the blood vessel.

The downside of this news is that high concentrations of tea flavonoids are needed to produce this effect. The best results were found after study participants drank 900 milliliters — equivalent to 3fl cups — of black tea daily for four weeks.

When Terri Kamakana, owner of Kuni Island Fabrics, asked her customers to make squares for a quilt to be auctioned off to benefit women with breast cancer, she hoped for enough finished squares to make a single quilt.

But on the first day, enthusiastic home sewers picked up 32 packs of color-coordinated squares, donated by Kuni's, more than enough for a single quilt. More than 150 have contributed to the project so far, including some on the Mainland who learned of the project on the store's Web site. Their contributions are enough for six or seven quilts, which will be auctioned for the American Cancer Society, Hawai'i Chapter.

One quilt is already on display at the store, at 2563 King St. Others will be shown at the Sewing & Craft Expo at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall August 3-5. "We hit a nerve," Kamakana said. "Everyone knows someone who has breast cancer."

CNN 'Headline News' tries fresh approach

"Headline News," CNN's less-noticed sister, will get a new studio, slogan and team of anchors when it relaunches Aug. 6, the first big on-air overhaul under new Turner Broadcasting Systems chief Jamie Kellner.

The "real news, real fast" broadcast will come from a new studio-in-the-round from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, with a prime-time anchor team of CNN veteran Miles O'Brien and newcomer Andrea Thompson, the former "NYPD Blue" star who joined the network after a year covering news at a New Mexico TV station.

At last week's Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., new CNN chief Walter Isaacson said he disagreed with the old CNN mantra that news is the star rather than personalities. But those personalities, including Thompson, have to be "smart and credible" or people will tune out.